Last week I was doing a local sprint tri. The water was murky and there were over 100 people per wave. In the middle of the swim, I felt someone kick my hand, hard. I think the kicker was doing the breast-stroke, it felt like a hard karate kick to the side of my hand. It really hurt a lot but I finished the entire event. By the end. my hand was killing me so I went and got an xray.

Long story short, mid-shaft fracture of my 5th metacarpal. I will try to include a picture if I can figure it out.

Anyone ever heard of such a thing?

p.s. the screws in my wrist are from an old injury 10 years ago. And of course, I am right handed.

I am in a brace from mid forearm to the tips of my 4th and 5th fingers. The other 3 fingers are free to move so I can sort-of write/eat with my hand but it's not easy.

I get another x-ray later this week to make sure it's healing and hopefully just need the splint for 6 weeks total and not need surgery.

I can't really ride my road bike like this, but I have some clip-on aero bars that I put on my old steel roadbike and put that on the trainer. It is pretty comfy, but I don't know if I have the guts to try it out on the road.

They say my splint is waterproof so I may try swimming in another week but it hurts too much to try just yet.

Obviously I can run like this, but I already planned to take a 2 week break from running to try to get a mild nagging achilles issue to heal.

That sux. It looks like you have already had surgery on a broken hamate bone? I really hate to see people breast stroke because it is impossible to see where you are kicking. I'm sure the person who did this meant no harm but it does reenforce the importance of avoiding a whip kick in crowds. Kinda like doing jumping jacks in a crowded elevator

I recall Macca dropping out of Abu Dhabi, I think, last year with a broken little finger on the swim (or something similar). Happens to the best, too.

I have mixed feeling about breast-stroke swimmers (I think "breast-strokers" might get censored - well, I guess we'll find out when I hit submit!).

I like to see them in front of me, as it means I'm on course and don't have to sight for a couple strokes (I figure they can see!), and this has been good coming up on the back of a couple waves in previous races. Downside is the contact, for sure. All part of the sport though.

It's called a boxers fracture and is most commonly seen in people who use poor technique when punching something.

Just how, exactly, did this person's foot hit your hand? Are you sure your hand wasn't making a fist during your swim?

Not sure I would agree. A boxer fracture is in the neck (distal 1/3) of the metacarpal not mid shaft. An orthopedist may disagree but I wouldn't insinuate the OP was punching anything with a clenched fist based on this one view. Lateral impact would explain the soft tissue swelling along with fracture.